When all eyes in the nation turned to Wisconsin in early April 2016, the Stritch campus buzzed with its own political energy. Leading up to the primary election on April 5, Student Affairs partnered with History and Political Science to enact a mock election among members of the campus community. Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders won in a landslide overall, and Senator Ted Cruz edged out Donald Trump among Republican candidates. Wisconsin’s primary yielded the same results.

“We believe students need to be civically engaged and a mock election is a great way to raise awareness about the election and to educate students, faculty and staff about how to register, what they need to bring to the polls and other important details,” said Matt Weiss, residence life coordinator, who worked with adjunct instructor Bill Dahlk to coordinate the mock event.

Weiss said the exercise provided voters – many among them first-time voters – the opportunity to interact with a ballot that simulated the actual ballot they could expect to see on primary day.

“We included every name on the ballot, even if the candidate had dropped out of the race,” Weiss said. “Many of the participants were surprised to learn that even after someone drops out of the race, that their names still appear on the ballot.”

Both expect to repeat the exercise again with the final slate of candidates prior to the November general election.